


Better Together

by EzraTheBlue



Series: Promnis Valentine's Week 2020 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chocolate, Cooking, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Presents, Smooching, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: Prompto and Noctis team up to make chocolates for Ignis and Gladio. Ignis, however, has his own contribution.(Promnis Valentine's Week Day 2: A Sweet Exchange)
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum/Ignis Scientia
Series: Promnis Valentine's Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633150
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49
Collections: Promnis Valentines 2020





	Better Together

**Better Together**

Prompto had it all figured out. He had bought the supplies at a craft store not far from the school, and ran all the way back to Noctis’ apartment to keep them from getting too cold in the bitter winter chill. He'd talked to Noctis and found a day where both Ignis and Gladio would be away from the apartment, and they knew they only had so much time to act. 

Noctis wasn’t allowed to just saunter into a craft store, but he was waiting for Prompto by the door reading the instructions Prompto had texted to him on his phone. He threw the door wide when he heard Prompto coming down the hall. “You got everything?”

“Yeah!” Prompto jumped all of the tote bags on the table and started taking supplies out: plastic molds and piping bags, little paper sticks, and bags of confectionary chocolate melting coins. “I found a big teddy bear, just like you said!” He took out the biggest plastic mold the store sold, which Noctis grabbed with glee.

“It’s perfect!” Noctis laughed, then grabbed the milk chocolate and red chocolate confectionary coins. “Okay, I found Ignis’ fancy candy thermometer like you said.”

“Cool!” Prompto grinned and grabbed the dark chocolate. “It’s gonna be great! We just gotta be careful not to overheat the colored chocolates, it’s just white chocolate colored different colors and the thing I found says white chocolate burns super easy.”

“Okay, cool.” Noctis clenched his jaw. “Let’s do this.”

It was Prompto’s first Red Day since he’d started dating Ignis, and while Noctis hadn’t worked up the nerve to confess to Gladio, he was going to try it this year. Prompto had thought about baking cookies or brownies, but while he could cook passably well, baking was intimidating. Noctis was even worse at cooking than Prompto, and hardly even trusted himself with microwave popcorn, let alone box-mix brownies. Plus, he wanted to do better for Gladio than box-mix brownies. Noctis’ idea was to go to a fancy chocolate shop he’d heard some girls talking about, but Prompto thought it would mean more if they made it themselves. Noctis had quickly agreed.

Prompto wanted to make something he couldn’t screw up, and he’d been told that making basic molded chocolates wasn’t too hard. He didn’t have to bake anything, just melt the chocolate the right way and fill the molds. Noctis was going to try to make the big bear, which would be a little harder, and Prompto was going to try to use the little plastic piping bags to fill in part of the molds with a different color. 

He and Noctis watched the chocolate in glass bowls in the microwave as the disk twirled around, then stirred in more coins to bring the temperature down - tempering, the webpage had called it - then heated it a little more and checked the temperature. Noctis stared into the bowl of red chocolate as he stirred it, and Prompto put the candy thermometer in the dark chocolate.

“How will we know when it’s ready?”

“I guess the temperature? It's supposed to get hot, then we add more coins to lower the temperature, then bring it up a little." Prompto cleaned off the thermometer and stuck it in the red. “It says what it says on the bag, so I guess we're doing okay?”

Noctis filled the plastic piping bag and began to fill in the bows on the bear’s ears, and Prompto filled another bag to start working on the inner hearts for the chocolate heart pops. 

He chewed on the tip of his tongue as he carefully traced the outside of the heart, then flooded the middle, trying to keep it as even as possible. Noctis was a little more sloppy, but he was at least trying. He filled the eyes with dark chocolate, then began to coat the inside of the bear with milk chocolate.

"You think I should make it solid?" Noctis was similarly intently focused, brow furrowed as he tried to spread the chocolate evenly through the inside.

"Dunno. It's definitely easier?" With the details painted in, Prompto was filling his little hearts. "But it'll take forever to harden."

"Yeah." Noctis kept piping without looking up.

"Just tap the mold every once in a while to even the chocolate out, it says on the package." Prompto tapped the plastic mold on the table, and smiled, satisfied, as the still-liquid chocolate settled in the mold. Then, he grabbed the paper sticks and stuck them into the channels in the mold. They didn't fit perfectly, some of the chocolate pushed back out the channel, but it was definitely good enough!

It took him less than an hour to fill all ten chocolate pop molds, with a few breaks to reheat chocolate or to check the website for tips. Noctis was still diligently filling in the bear - it wasn't perfectly even but Prompto was sure it'd look great out of the mold. He peeked at his own lollipop hearts. The red and purple chocolate inside didn't exactly fill the mold, but it still looked really good! Especially for his first time trying! 

Now, to surprise Ignis!

The apartment door shut. “Noct, Prompto, I’ve returned!” Prompto jumped a foot at Ignis’ greeting rang through the entryway, and he scrambled to tuck his chocolates in the refrigerator. Ignis strolled in moments later, carrying a tote bag from a grocery store. He took in the scene as Prompto hurried to wipe the dripped chocolate off the counter, and Noctis got another bowl of melted chocolate out of the microwave. “Ah, did I interrupt something?”

“Huh.” Noctis glanced over to Prompto’s section of the counter, then resumed filling a piping bag. “Nah, you’re good. I’m making a chocolate bear.”

“For a certain bear in your life, I suppose?” Ignis laughed airily, then peered over as Noctis, determined even as he flushed, ignored his question and continued working. “Hollow?”

Noctis nodded, resolute. “I’m going to fill it with E&Es.”

“Oh, so when you open it the candies spill out!” Prompto laughed. “That’s awesome! How are you going to do that?”

“I... am going to figure that out.” Noctis had begun chewing his lip, and Prompto chuckled and opened up Moogle on his phone to see if he could find a tutorial. Ignis smiled wryly, but set his tote bag down and began to take out ingredients.

“You two keep at it, then. Don’t mind me over here.” Prompto noticed him taking out a bag of sugar, butter, a carton of cream, and an unlabelled bag of translucent pink crystals.

Prompto started helping Noctis fill in the back of the bear, as Ignis began to cook up something that smelled intensely sweet, but he got caught up in piping and couldn’t pay attention to what Ignis was making. The last thing he caught was Ignis pouring a thick, medium brown sauce almost the golden-brown shade of his hair into a metal loaf pan lined with parchment paper, then, with a toss of a limber hand, cast the pink crystals in a fine layer all over the top. Then, Ignis came to check on them.

“Alright, let’s see your progress.”

Noctis was still helping Prompto fill the back, leaving a thick hole they could use to fill the bear. “I’m fine, Specs. Focus on your own stuff.” 

“Mine’s cooling. Don’t worry about me.” Ignis finished toweling the sticky sauce off of his hands. “This is a big undertaking, much like Gladio himself. We can accomplish it together.”

“Though,” Prompto cut in, grinning, “I think we’ll leave Gladio to you.”

Noctis chuckled weakly, then shook his hands out. “Thanks.” Prompto could see his knuckles were swollen from gripping the piping bag. 

Ignis helped Noctis demold the top half of the chocolate bear as the second was cooking, and melted a little more red chocolate to help touch up on some of the details. Prompto tried to keep Ignis from peering any deeper into the refrigerator to see his present, but if Ignis saw, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he and Prompto helped hold the front of the chocolate bear in place as Noctis piped around the edges and used the chocolate to glue the back half on. As they put the bear back in the refrigerator to let the chocolate set, Ignis poked his own metal pan, smiling with satisfaction. Prompto tried to peek himself, but Ignis promptly shut the refrigerator, winking at Prompto as if to let him know he saw what Prompto was up to. 

By the time all was said and done, Ignis and Noctis were dusting the bear with fancy chocolate powder to highlight the details on the bear’s sculpted fur, and Prompto was taking photographs of the bear from all angles. “You did a great job!”

“We all did,” Noctis replied, color high in his cheeks. “You guys are the best, thank you.”

“Happy to help, Noct.” Ignis patted him on the back. “Thank you for allowing me to do so. How did you plan on giving it to him?” 

“I asked him to hang out with me tonight.” Noctis bit his lip. “Actually, I dunno how I’m gonna get him out of here. I don’t have a box, or anything.”

Ignis sidled to stand beside Prompto. “Easily solved. Why not invite him in? We can give you some privacy - Prompto, you don’t mind, do you?” Ignis winked at him, and Prompto’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Oh, yeah. You two were going to go on a Red Day date too, weren’t you?” Noctis smiled and shooed them. “Get outta here. Show him a good time, okay?”

“No problem,” both Ignis and Prompto answered, then glanced at each other, grinning. 

“I just need to get-”

“Allow me to-”

They each stopped when they realized the other was speaking, and Noctis groaned, shaking his head, and muttered, “Go be adorable somewhere fancy.”

Ignis grabbed his loaf pan from the refrigerator, and Prompto got his molds, concealing them to his chest. He peeked at his chocolate pops, and grinned to see that they looked solid, and when he demolded one, it was glossy and pretty. Not perfect, but cute, just like him. 

As they entered the hallway, however, Ignis eyed the bag Prompto was carrying. "I see Noctis isn't the only one up to something or other." Prompto noticed a twinkle in his eye - Ignis had known all along. However, he was still obviously curious, studying the contours of the bag. "Must I wait until tonight, or may I have a sneak preview?" 

Prompto laughed nervously, but stuck a hand into the bag as Ignis summoned the elevator. "You sure?"

"Certain as sunrise, darling." Ignis motioned for Prompto to step in, and Prompto huffed and shook his head, grinning helplessly in the face of Ignis' prying. "One peek?"

Prompto groaned, still smiling, but pulled out his hand and one of the chocolate pops, a dark chocolate heart painted with red and purple hearts in the middle. Ignis' eyes lit up. "Happy Red Day, Iggy!"

"How delightful!" Ignis laughed and accepted the paper stick, turning the heart around. "What a precious little treat."

"I have a few more for you, I just wanted to wrap them first." Prompto chuckled, but his heart skipped a beat when Ignis licked the edge of the chocolate heart.

"How delightful - and to think you made them, too." Ignis chuckled, then fished into the bag he was carrying. "I admit, I made you something as well." He took out a paper-wrapped cube that already smelled richly sweet. "For you. Happy Red Day, my sweet."

Prompto gasped and accepted it. "Oh, wow, for real? I thought you'd do White Day!"

"I have plans to do both." Ignis gave his chocolate heart another nibble. "Especially after seeing you pouring your heart out into these chocolate molds."

Prompto laughed, then unwrapped the paper. "Oh! It's a caramel square!"

"A caramel creme, yes, flaked with pink sea salt brought in from the shores of Galdin Quay.” Ignis smiled, equal parts smug and amused at Prompto’s delight. “The salt they harvest at the northernmost point, nearest the tributary that passes Mount Ravatogh, is pink and has a unique tang."

“That’s way cool! I have to try it now!” Prompto popped the caramel into his mouth and chewed once. The caramel was soft, chewy, and sweet, and as the caramel began to dissolve, it burst with salt and sweetness that melted on the tongue. Ignis gazed fondly at Prompto, seeming to watch his mouth work. Prompto had to keep himself from speaking, because he had a feeling he’d drool a river. He had to swallow twice before he trusted himself: “Oh em gee, that’s _amazing!”_ He beamed, and Ignis laughed.

“I had hoped you would say so, my darling!” Ignis extended the chocolate pop towards him. “Have you tasted your own product?”

“I haven’t - hey.” Prompto snapped his fingers. “I have an idea!” He got on tiptoes towards Ignis. “C’mere.”

Ignis bent down towards him, and Prompto kissed him on the mouth, tasting the chocolate on his tongue. The sweet chocolate met with the rich, sugary caramel and salt as the flavors mingled between their lips, blending as they traded what they had each exchanged. The elevator reached the ground floor just as Prompto withdrew. Ignis’ eyes were starry, and Prompto saw his tongue flick at the seam of his lips.

“I see you took the idea of a present exchange literally.” Ignis offered Prompto another caramel as they strolled towards the carpark. “Perhaps we can trade a few more _presents_ when we arrive at my apartment?”

“I’ll give anything for that,” Prompto affirmed, already unwrapping the next caramel and waiting for another taste of chocolate.

The best gifts were the ones made together.


End file.
